The Monday Mix (25/07/2022)
Hey friends,
Not much to update this week. I’m going to take a break from one of the projects I’ve been working on for the past few months. Hopefully, this will free up some time for writing the new articles I’ve been meaning to get to for a while now.
This is the downside of being self-employed. There’s so much to do and mostly only you to do it, that you can’t always get around to doing what you really want to do. The next month should see more articles from me, which I’ll share here and on Medium.
Here’s what I want to share with you this week.
The Moon Landings Weren’t Faked
An old article about one of the craziest conspiracy theories around. This article looks at why people are so adamant America didn’t go to the moon. I’m actually baffled by how people believe this conspiracy theory. Thinking about it logically would tell you the landings did happen. The US was in an intense ideological battle with the Soviets at the time. If they were faked, then the Soviets would have been the first to say so. The damage they could have done to the US from exposing their biggest achievement as a fraud would have been immense. As there were multiple landings, they had ample opportunity to call out the US, but never did because they did land on the moon, multiple times.
It’s this lack of logical thinking and belief in hunches that is so damaging. While the moon landing conspiracy isn’t as dangerous as others, it does show how widespread these ideas can become thanks to the internet. The conspiracies over the Covid vaccines are a case in point and show where these conspiracies can lead.
What If All Cars Went Underground?
One of the biggest challenges in coming years is redesigning cities and our infrastructure to cope with the effects of climate change. Cars are one of the biggest impediments to this, especially in cities. while electric cars are a step forward, a lot of cities are too car-centric, especially here in England.
This article asks an intriguing question, what if all cars went underground. This is kind of similar to Elon Musk’s Boring Company creating underground tunnels to combat traffic. One issue with his scheme which was highlighted in a video is that these tunnels are not immune to traffic themselves and they didn’t seem to have any means of emergency escape either.
In my view, a better idea is to invest in public transport and make it easier for people to move around without needing to use a car. Better bus routes, trams where possible, and big high-speed rail improvements will probably be more value for money than shifting cars underground.
Hydrogen Planes Are On The Horizon
Aviation is one of the biggest causes of fossil fuel emissions and one of the hardest to curb. We lack a lot of alternative fuels to power these behemoths. While improving rail links can mitigate short-term flights, especially intra-country ones, that won’t work for long-haul flights.
The suggestion in this article is that hydrogen-powered planes might fill the gap. airbus is planning to test hydrogen engines on some of its planes in the next few years. This is a serious engineering problem, as the planes would need to be redesigned to store the hydrogen, but it’s an interesting development that could help in the fight against climate change.
Book I’m reading - The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman
Interesting book about how war could look in the future, which is relevant today due to events in Ukraine. I’m only at the start, and it’s dealing more with the past at the moment, but I’ve learnt a lot so far regardless. War is horrible but it’s also an unfortunate fact of life if we elect the wrong people. Understanding, whatever your position, is as important as ever.
Quote I’m pondering: “We no longer like to think about bureaucracy, yet it informs every aspect of our existence. It’s as if as a planetary civilization, we have decided to clap our hands over our ears and start humming whenever the topic comes up.” – David Graeber
That’s all for this week.
Until next time,
Tom